The Human Genome Project

What is the Human Genome Project?

The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international research in which the main purpose was to break the code the complex human genome and be able to prevent some diseases. The project began back in 1990 and it was projected to take 15 years to complete. They ended up beating that time by a couple years (and a bit under budget too) and finished in 2003. They learnt a large handful of useful things about our genome. i.e. they have now found over 1,800 genes that are causes of disease in our bodies. This has helped doctors with diagnostics around the world, and has improved our biotechnology and our abilities to spot some diseases substantially. This is all significant because knowing how our genome works means that we know how humans are made. So basically we've discovered how it is possible that we can make a human. As you probably know, there has already been research into this sort of possibility (designer babies) but it is largely debated that it is an unethical practice. This does not make the HGP a useless research project by any means however. With this knowledge we actually have been able to make a large amount of things easier on ourselves. We have plenty of genetic tests for diseases and it now only takes a few days to find something rather than a year or more, And to ensure that the project wouldn't get out of hand, guidelines were established for what was learned and how it should be used.

The Effect this has on Gene Therapy

Gene therapy is a technique that is currently in the process of being experimented. What it's meant to do is prevent or reduce diseases using genes. This technique (while it is not yet used in practice) has been made entirely possible because of the HGP. Without the knowledge of the sequence of our genomes we would be completely unable to prevent genetic disease. The reason is because of how gene therapy works, which is basically removing a diseased gene from the body and replacing it with a healthy copy. By doing this, the disease is ridden and the patient will be okay. However this still is experimental and is not completely safe yet, but I think that this will be a very good practice in the future.

Summary

The Human Genome Project has been an essential part of our genetic information today and is now allowing us to do truly incredible things. I am very happy that what we have learned is making a difference, but let us not let it slip into becoming something bad. The core purpose of the HGP was to discover our genome and to use that knowledge for good, so let's keep it that way.